European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks would benefit from private equity investment, CEO Rajeev Suri has told journalists.
Such ownership would reportedly bring “new capital that would give us additional strategic flexibility”, as well as “expertise and…
European vendor Nokia Siemens Networks would benefit from private equity investment, CEO Rajeev Suri has told journalists.
Such ownership would reportedly bring “new capital that would give us additional strategic flexibility”, as well as “expertise and knowledge”. He went on to say “I believe that it’s good to have a strong base of three shareholders”, meaning that current JV partners Finland’s Nokia and Germany’s Siemens would welcome one private equity partner.
Suri has for some time been courting private equity, having stated publicly approaches by such groups, which reportedly include TPG, Gores or a third unspecified firm. He declined comment on timing, responding to reports that a deal could close by the end of Q2.
Finally, he was cited saying that NSN intends to complete the acquisition of US vendor Motorola’s networks business by the close of Q1. This deal has been hampered by an injunction won by Chinese vendor Huawei in a US District Court, which stopped Motorola providing confidential information to NSN. Huawei reportedly made a higher bid, but failed to win the contract.
